The truth about Tommy Robinson

Tommy Robinson must not become MEP for the North West of England on 23 May. He claims to speak for ordinary people. But he is a Nazi, a racist, and a middle class fraud.

Socialist Worker has been tracking him since he started organising demonstrations as leader of the English Defence League (EDL) a decade ago.

A Robinson victory would be a threat to every ordinary working class person in Britain. Whenever a fascist wins an election, it emboldens racists and the right to act on their beliefs.

That means more attacks on Muslims, Jews, black people, trade unionists and the left.

A win would help to ­normalise his vile beliefs and generally boost his media profile. He would become the “respectable racist” the media would turn to. Robinson is running for the seat that was won in 2009 by Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party (BNP) which Robinson was once a member of.

Robinson and his handlers have attacked people who have challenged them when out campaigning.

Nazis always lie about their views. So Robinson tones down his rhetoric, saying he’s against “Islamic extremism”, “radical Islam” or “grooming gangs” when sitting in a TV studio.

He uses phrases such as “radical Islam” as code for all Muslims and his supporters know it.

Often when Robinson addresses them directly the mask slips. In a 2017 video he referred to Muslims as “enemy combatants”.

There are plenty of mainstream politicians and pundits who push racism against Muslims.

Opponents

But Robinson isn’t just another racist politician. His aim is to use Islamophobia to mobilise his supporters into a street ­movement that can inflict violence on Muslims, minorities and political opponents.

It was the biggest outdoor mobilisation organised by fascists in British history,—bigger than Oswald Mosley’s Black Shirts managed in the 1930s.

Robinson hasn’t been able to mobilise that many since and has suffered some setbacks. But a victory in the European elections later this month—or even a ­substantial vote—could revive his fortunes. He must be stopped.

Thugs spreading terror by targeting Muslims

Tommy Robinson threatens Muslims with violence.

In 2017 he said that “militias will be set up and then the UK government will have a problem beyond their wildest dreams”. “Inaction will only facilitate the creation of a disgruntled, angry population, who will end up cleaning out this Islamic problem,” he said.

On 3 September 2011 Robinson said Muslims would “feel the full force of the English Defence League” in Tower Hamlets, east London. “We are here to tell you quite loud, quite clear, every single Muslim, watching this video on YouTube. On 7/7 you got away with killing and maiming British citizens.

“Next time you think about it, you better understand that we have built a network from one bit of the country to the other end.”

Robinson was questioned about the remarks on the BBC on 17 June 2013. He claimed the EDL was a “pressure organisation” that would work “through the democratic process”.

Yet less than a month before 100 EDL thugs rampaged through Woolwich, south east London, throwing bottles and chanting Islamophobic slogans.

Target

Robinson had mobilised his street fighters within hours of the killing of soldier Lee Rigby.

He has also talked about how he would like to stop Muslims from migrating to Britain.

And it’s not just specific groups—he wants to target all Muslims. The day after the Manchester Arena bombing on 22 May 2017 he said, “When you see these communities and you see these houses, you think this is a British community or you might have British Muslims.

“In these houses are enemy combatants who want to kill you, maim you and destroy you.”

‘We’re not Nazis,’ say EDL Nazis

The EDL website was run by BNP member Chris Renton. BNP member David Cooling was the Luton EDL Facebook group administrator.

And BNP members directed violence during the EDL’s race riot in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. Combat 18 fascists were also on the mobilisation.

Robinson revels in racist language.

A leaked video in February showed Robinson call a taxi driver a “little Paki that drives a car”.

And he said calling Muslims “goat fuckers” was “not racist” in an interview.

Friend of Europe’ s far right

Robinson gets on well with Lutz Bachmann and Martin Sellner. Bachmann is the founder of the Islamophobic Pegida movement in Germany. He posed as Adolf Hitler in February 2015.

Robinson spent time with him in Tenerife while on holiday after being released on bail in August 2018. Sellner leads the Austrian branch of Generation Identity, the far right group that believes Muslim immigration is behind a “Great Replacement” of white people.

Far right radicalised British killer too

Before he carried it out Osborne read posts from Robinson. Mark Rowley of the Metropolitan Police said Osborne “had grown to hate Muslims largely due to his consumption of large amounts of online far right material”.

Osborne had received an email along with other supporters of the Rebel Media website.

One line in it said, “It has now been left to us, the ordinary people of the United Kingdom, to stand up to hate, to unite and in one voice say ‘no more’.”

How US alt right money and British far right connections are paying off for Robinson

Daniel Pipes

Daniel Pipes is an Islamophobe with ties to the far right and members of the US neo-conservative political establishment.

He is the president of the Middle East Forum (MEF), a US “conservative think tank” designed to push Islamophobia. MEF said it paid nearly £50,000 for both “Free Tommy” demonstrations on 9 June and 14 July 2018, and paid legal fees.

Pipes said of Robinson, “He is knowledgeable, draws a distinction between Islam and Islamism, and is a leader.”

Robert Shillman

The billionaire helped to pay for Robinson to be employed in 2017 by the far right Rebel Media website on £5,000 a month.

He funds projects which push Islamophobic propaganda.

Shillman Journalism Fellows at the FrontPage Magazine in the US argue that the only “genuine refugees” are “Christian and non-Muslim”.

Shillman is a director of the David Horowitz Freedom Centre, which runs the Islamophobic Jihad Watch website.

Alex Jones

The InfoWars website founder, who claims the Democrats are organising a “white genocide”, donated £20,000 to Robinson.

Jones has appeared in videos with Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys far right group in the US.

Jones claimed in 2017 that NFL football players protesting during the national anthem were “kneeling to white genocide” and violence against whites.

Pamela Geller

Pamela Geller invited Robinson to speak in New York at a 2012 conference hosted by her Stop Islamification Of Nations organisation.

Another organisation Geller has set up was the American Freedom Defense Initiative. It held an Islamophobic event in 2015 alongside Jihad Watch to denigrate the prophet Mohammed.

Geller has previously said, “Muslim immigration is tied directly to Islamic terror. The more Muslim immigration, the more Islamic terror you have.”

Alan Lake

Banker and ‘counter-jihadist’

The EDL was founded in banker Alan Ayling’s flat in 2009. He was a director of Pacific Capital Investment Management.

Ayling, a self-described “counter-jihadist”, admitted, “I have given some money to help some EDL things happen.”

He went by the pseudonym “Alan Lake” until he was exposed in December 2011.

He published an online essay discussing the execution and torture of Britain’s political and religious leaders.